HOUSE 


OF 


JOHN     PROCTER, 


WITCHCRAFT  MARTYR,  1692. 


BY  WM.  P.  UPHAA\. 


far  Iff  rtbe 


HOUSE 


OF 


WITCHCRAFT  MARTYR,  1692. 


BY  WM.  P.  UPHAM. 


PEABODY: 

PRESS  OF  C.  H.  SHEPARD, 
1904- 


2038712 


HOUSE  OF  JOHN   PROCTER 

WITCHCRAFT  MARTYR,  1692. 


[A  paper  read  by  William  P.  Upham  at  a  meeting  of  the  Peabody  Historical 
Society  at  the  Needham  house,  West  Peabody,  September  2nd.,  1903.] 

It  is  now  nearly  forty  years  since  I  assisted  my  father, 
the  late  Charles  W.  Upham,  in  the  preparation  of  his  work 
on  Salem  Village  and  the  Witchcraft  tragedy  of  1692,  by 
collecting  what  information  could  be  obtained  from  the 
records  as  to  the  people  and  their  homes  in  that  locality. 
In  doing  this  I  was  enabled  to  construct  a  map  showing 
the  bounds  of  the  grants  and  farms  at  that  time.  On  that 
map  is  represented  quite  accurately  the  Downing  Farm,  so 
called,  owned,  in  1638,  by  Emanuel  Downing,  father  of  Sir 
George  Downing,  and  occupied  as  tenant,  in  1692,  by  John 
Procter,  the  victim  of  the  witchcraft  delusion.  When  I 
made  the  map  I  knew  that  John  Procter  at  his  death 
owned,  as  appears  by  the  inventory  of  his  estate,  fifteen 
acres  of  land  in  Salem,  but  I  was  not  able  then  to  locate  it 
with  exactness.  Lately,  in  making  a  more  complete  study 
of  the  records  relating  to  the  Downing  farm  and  the  sur- 
rounding lands  I  have  learned  the  exact  situation  of  the 
fifteen  acre  lot  owned  by  him,  and  also  that  he  had  a  house 
upon  it  as  early  as  1682  and  until  his  death  in  1692.  It 
appears  that  this  lot  is  the  place  where  he  was  buried,  ac- 
cording to  the  family  tradition,  although  the  knowledge 
as  to  its  being  once  owned  by  him  seems  to  have  passed 
out  of  the  neighborhood  ior  more  than  a  century. 


This  lot  is  indicated,  on  the  accompanying  map  of  the 
locality  which  I  have  drawn  for  the  purpose,  by  heavy  dark 
lines.  It  was  on  the  north  side  of  Lowell  Street  in  West 
Peabody,  just  west  of  the  westernmost  line  of  the  Downing 
Farm  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  rods  east  from  the 
place  of  this  meeting,  which  is  the  Needham  homestead  on 
the  Newburyport  Turnpike,  or  Newbury  Street  as  it  is  now 
called,  marked  on  the  map  as  then,  in  1692,  the  home  of 
Anthony  Needham,  Junior. 

The  discovery  that  this  was  John  Procter's  land  called 
to  mind  a  conversation  I  had  with  Mrs.  Jacobs,  an  aged 
lady  who  lived  in  the  old  Jacobs  house,  now  the  Wyman 
place,  and  of  which  I  made  the  following  memorandum 
about  thirty  years  ago  : — 

"Mrs.  Jacobs  (Munroe)  says  that  it  was  always  said 
that  Procters  were  buried  near  the  bars  as  you  go  into  the 
Philip  H.  Saunders  place.  Mr.  James  Marsh  says  he 
always  heard  that  John  Procter,  of  witch  time,  was  buried 
there." 

Upon  inquiring  lately  of  Mrs.  Osborn,  the  librarian  of 
the  Peabody  Historical  Society,  as  to  what  was  the  family 
tradition,  I  learned  that  it  was  said  by  Mrs.  Hannah  B. 
Mansfield,  of  Danvers,  that  John  Procter  was  buried 
"opposite  to  the  Colcord  "  (now  the  Wyman)  "pasture, 
amongst  the  rocks."  In  answer  to  an  inquiry  by  Mrs. 
Osborn,  Mrs.  Mansfield  wrote  to  her  as  follows  : — "  A  great 
aunt  took  me,  when  a  little  girl,  with  her  to  a  spot  in  a 
rocky  hill  where  she  picked  blackberries,  and  said  there 
was  the  place  '  among  birch  trees  and  rocks  where  our 
ancestor  of  witchcraft  notoriety  was  buried.'  It  was  on  the 
north  side  of  Lowell  Street  in  what  was  then  called  the 
Marsh  pasture  nearly  opposite  the  Jacobs  farm  which  is  on 
the  south  side  of  Lowell  Street." 

The  Marsh  pasture  from  which  Mrs.  Mansfield's  aunt 
pointed  out  the  "birch  trees  and  rocks"  near  by  where 


John  Procter  was  buried  was,  no  doubt,  the  pasture  con- 
veyed by  James  Marsh  to  Philip  H.  Saunders,  n  June, 
1863,  and  then  described  as  "thirteen  acres  known  by  the 
name  of  Bates  Pasture."  I  do  not  know  of  any  other  place 
near  there  that  would  be  called  the  Marsh  pasture  at  the 
time  Mrs.  Mansfield  mentions.  This  thirteen  acre  pasture 
was  conveyed  by  Ezekiel  Marsh  to  John  Marsh,  15  Oct., 
1819,  having  been  devised  to  him  by  his  father  Ezekiel 
Marsh.  It  had  a  way  leading  to  it  from  Lowell  Street  over 
the  eastern  end  of  the  John  Procter  lot  as  shown  on  my 
map.  This  way  is  still  used  as  well  as  the  bars  opening 
into  it  on  I/owell  Street  a  few  rods  east  of  the  westerly  way 
leading  southerly  to  the  Jacobs,  or  Wyman,  place.  These 
are  the  "  bars  as  you  go  into  the  Philip  H.  Saunders  place" 
mentioned  by  Mrs.  Jacobs  as  stated  above,  unless  we  sup- 
pose the  expression  to  mean  bars  leading  from  the  John 
Procter  lot  where  the  way  enters  the  Philip  H.  Saunders 
place,  or  Marsh  pasture,  as  Mrs.  Mansfield  calls  it.  Per- 
haps the  latter  locality  is  the  most  probable  since  it  is  high 
rocky  ground ;  but  which  bars  were  meant  is  uncertain. 

Mr.  Daniel  H.  Felton,  who  has  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  history  of  all  the  lands  about  Felton's  Hill,  and  is 
himself  a  descendant  of  John  Procter,  informs  me  that 
Mrs.  Hannah  B.  Mansfield  some  years  since  related  to  him 
"  that  she  went  berrying  at  the  Jacobs  farm  when  she  was 
a  child  and  that  older  persons  said  that  John  Procter  was 
buried  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  way  (among  the  rocks) 
from  where  they  turned  off  from  I,owell  Street  to  go  to  the 
Jacobs  farm."  Mrs.  Mansfield  lived  when  a  child  on  the 
Newburyport  Turnpike  opposite  the  Needham  homestead. 
It  was,  I  understand,  her  "aunt  Betsey  Gardner"  who, 
when  picking  blackberries  "  on  a  rocky  hill"  pointed  out 
to  her  the  place  "among  birch  trees  and  rocks"  whare 
John  Procter  was  buried. 

To  reconcile  these  traditions  with  the  known  facts,  we 


8 

may  suppose,  as  related  by  Mrs.  Jacobs  and  Mrs.  Mans- 
field, that  the  place  of  burial  was  pointed  out  to  them  from 
the  high  land  on  the  Jacobs  place  south  of  Lowell  Street, 
where  the  "  roeky  hill"  and  the  bars  leading  into  the 
Marsh  pasture  on  the  north  side  of  Lowell  Street  could  be 
plainly  seen.  Subsequently  Mrs.  Mansfield's  aunt  took 
her  to  the  rocky  hill  itself  and  pointed  out  the  exact  spot, 
probably  close  to  where  the  bars  lead  into  the  Marsh  pas- 
ture, now  the  Saunders  place.  In  going  home  from  the 
Jacobs  farm  they  would  turn  into  Lowell  Street  at  the  old 
way  near  the  house  marked  "White"  on  my  map,  and 
some  ten  rods  westerly  from  the  way  above  mentioned  lead- 
ing from  the  opposite  side  of  Lowell  Street  to  the  Saunders 
place.  This  way  from  the  Jacobs  place  is  a  very  old  way. 
Mr.  Felton  tells  me  :  "I  recollect  that  my  father  said  over 
forty  years  ago  that  the  gate  posts  of  locust  were  nearly 
one  hundred  years  old  then." 

Two  hundred  years  ago  the  Saunders  place,  formerly  the 
Marsh  pasture,  was  part  of  the  large  tract  of  homestead 
land  owned  by  Anthony  Needham.  This  Needham  land 
included  eight  acres  of  land  conveyed  by  Anthony  Need- 
ham  to  his  son-in-law,  Thomas  Gould,  26  Sept.,  1705,  and 
conveyed  to  Thomas  Gardner  27  Jan.,  1743,  by  George 
Gould,  the  son  of  Thomas  Gould.  The  eight  acre  lot 
descended  to  John  Gardner  and  from  him  to  John  Gardner 
Walcott,  and  is  where  John  G.  Walcott,  Jun.,  now  lives. 

The  land  which  I  find  to  be  identical  with  the  fifteen 
acre  lot  owned  by  John  Procter  is  on  the  north  side  of 
Lowell  Street  between  the  above  mentioned  eight  acre  lot, 
now  the  home  of  John  G.  Walcott,  Jun.,  and  the  lot 
marked  "Flint  Pasture"  on  my  map,  the  Procter  lot  being 
enclosed  by  heavy  black  lines.  The  westerly  part  of  the 
Flint  Pasture  was  conveyed,  17  Sept.,  1898,  to  John  D. 
Dennis,  who  lives  there  now. 

The   uniform   family  tradition  that   John   Procter   was 


buried  in  the  locality  I  have  thus  described,  is  confirmed 
in  my  mind  from  a  consideration  of  certain  facts,  bearing 
with  more  or  less  definiteness  upon  the  question,  which  I 
will  endeavor  briefly  to  recite. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  victims  executed  as  witches  on 
Gallows  Hill  in  Salem,  in  1692,  were  thrown  into  mere 
shallow  graves  or  crevices  in  the  ledge  under  the  gallows, 
where  the  nature  of  the  ground  did  not  allow  complete 
burial,  so  that  it  was  stated  at  the  time  that  portions  of  the 
bodies  were  hardly  covered  at  all.  It  was  natural  that  the 
relatives  of  those  thus  cruelly  put  to  death  and  left  prac- 
tically without  burial,  should,  where  they  were  able  and 
courageous  enough  for  the  dangerous  undertaking,  remove 
the  bodies  to  their  homes  for  interment.  It  is  the  tradition 
that  this  was  done  in  several  cases,  secretly  and  during  the 
night,  that  it  might  not  incur  the  opposition  of  the  frenzied 
and  deluded  people.  This  removal  was  made  by  the  chil- 
dren of  Rebecca  Nourse,  and  a  beautiful  monument  now 
marks  the  spot  to  which  her  body  was  removed.  There  is 
a  similar  tradition  in  the  Procter  family,  and  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe  that  his  body  was  removed  in  a  similar 
manner.  But  if  so,  the  necessary  secrecy  with  which  the 
sad  duty  was  performed  has  caused  the  place  where  he  was 
buried  to  be  known  only  by  the  slender  thread  of  tradition 
which  I  have  mentioned. 

The  boulder  inscribed  to  the  memory  of  John  Procter, 
which  was  dedicated  this  past  year  at  the  junction  of  Lowell 
and  Summit  Streets  in  Peabody,  must  be  considered  to 
have  been  placed  there  not  as  indicating  the  locality  of  his 
burial,  but  because  that  was  the  most  suitable  and  avail- 
able ground  in  the  near  neighborhood  of  the  house  where 
for  so  many  years  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  lived  as 
the  tenant  of  the  great  Downing  Farm.  There  was  the 
entrance  to  the  Farm  from  Salem,  and  from  that  spot  one 
obtains  a  full  view  of  the  farm  house  where  he  lived, 


16 

believed  to  be  in  part  still  standing  on  the  same  site,  and  of 
the  fine  and  far  extending  tillage  land  which  probably  first 
attracted  the  admiration  of  Emanuel  Downing  two  hundred 
and  seventy  years  ago,  and  is  now  found  so  attractive  and 
admirably  suited  to  the  purposes  of  a  golf  ground  by  the 
Salem  Country  Club. 

What  is  now  known  as  the  Procter  Tomb  on  the  north 
side  of  L,owell  Street  at  the  southeastern  corner  of  the 
Downing  Farm  is  of  modern  origin.  We  cannot  believe 
that  John  Procter's  family  would  have  deposited  his  body 
in  ground  to  which  they  then  had  no  title  except  as  tenants. 
At  the  time  of  the  imprisonment  of  John  Procter  and  his 
wife  Elizabeth  the  family  was  no  doubt  broken  up  and  the 
house  stripped  of  everything  that  could  be  taken  away  to 
pay  the  fees  of  arrest  and  imprisonment.  The  great  farm 
was  no  longer  their  home  and  they  were  not  again  in  a 
position  to  return  to  and  occupy  it  as  their  own  until  nearly 
a  decade  had  passed,  when,  through  the  efforts  of  Thorn- 
dike,  one  of  the  sons  of  John  Procter,  the  Downing  Farm 
in  its  entirety  was  purchased  from  Charles,  the  grandson 
of  Emanuel  Downing  and  son  of  Sir  George  Downing,  then 
deceased. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  in  1692  John  Procter  owned, 
except  what  land  in  Ipswich  he  may  have  inherited  from 
his  father,  only  the  fifteen  acres  with  a  house  upon  it, 
which,  as  I  have  said,  was  just  west  of  the  Downing  Farm 
on  the  north  side  of  Lowell  Street.  This  fact  alone  would 
render  it  entirely  probable  that  when  the  body  was  re- 
moved, in  1692,  it  would  be  carried  to  this  place.  In  fact, 
in  view  of  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  necessity  of 
secrecy  and  the  otherwise  homeless  condition  of  the  family, 
no  other  place  would  have  been  chosen. 

And  now  that  direct  tradition  of  the  descendants,  inde- 
pendently of  any  knowledge  that  John  Procter  owned  this 
land,  confirms  this  view  by  so  remarkably  agreeing  with 


It 

long  forgotten  records  as  to  the  locality,  it  may  be  said 
confidently  that  we  know  with  reasonable  certainty  the 
spot  where  these  revered  and  honored  relics  were  laid  so 
long  ago.  The  "bars  as  you  go  into  the  Philip  H.  Saun- 
ders  place"  are  still  there,  and  the  way  through  is  still 
used  and  marks  the  place  where  in  1708  John  Higginson  3d 
and  Hannah  wife,  in  conveying  to  Daniel  and  Lawrence 
Southwick  the  nine  acre  lot  next  east  of  Procter's  lot,  re- 
served the  liberty  of  a  "highway  of  one  pole  wide  at  the 
western  end  of  said  land  to  be  for  ye  use  of  Anthony  Need- 
ham  Sen,"  "they  to  maintain  a  pair  of  sufficient  bars  next 
ye  common  highway  so  long  as  they  use  the  same." 

Anthony  Needham,  Sen.,  at  that  time  owned  what  has 
recently  been  known  as  the  Philip  H.  Saunders  place,  and 
this  right  of  way  was  for  the  benefit  of  that  place.  Mr. 
Dennis  now  lives  at  the  westerly  end  of  the  nine  acre  lot 
conveyed  by  Higginson,  as  above  mentioned,  which  was 
long  known  as  the  "Flint  Pasture."  The  bars  and  the 
way  are  now  on  the  west  side  of  the  wall  dividing  the  Den- 
nis land  from  the  Procter  lot  instead  of  being  on  the  east 
side ;  indicating  that  the  dividing  line  was  at  some  time 
changed.  This  change  may  have  been  made  without  any 
evidence  of  it  appearing  on  record,  by  Zachariah  King, 
who  owned  both  lots  from  1811  till  1818;  and  this  would 
account  for  the  apparent  change  in  size  of  the  two  lots  as 
described  in  the  deeds,  the  westerly  (or  Procter)  lot  in- 
creasing while  the  easterly  lot  decreased. 

On  the  north  side  of  L,owell  Street,  about  half  way  be- 
tween these  bars  and  the  John  G.  Walcott,  Jun.,  house,  is 
a  well  on  the  edge  of  the  road  against  a  steep  rocky  hill 
rising  back  of  it.  This,  I  understand,  has  sometimes  been 
called  the  "  Procter  well."  There  seems  to  be  no  room  for 
a  house  close  by  it  on  that  side  of  the  road,  but  it  is  pos- 
sible that  the  road  may  anciently  have  turned  more  to  the 
south  at  this  point,  though  I  have  not  found  any  evidence 
in  the  records  to  that  effect. 


12 

The  history  of  the  John  Procter  house  and  fifteen  acres 
of  land,  as  derived  from  the  records,  may  be  briefly  stated 
as  follows  : — 

Before  we  can  understand  the  meaning  of  the  deeds  of 
the  Procter  lot  we  must  know  something  of  the  history  of 
the  Downing  Farm  and  particularly  of  the  nine  acre  lot 
known  formerly  as  the  Flint  Pasture,  which  is  the  large 
area  of  cleared  land  on  the  north  side  of  L,owell  Street,  on 
the  west  end  of  which  is  at  present  the  house  of  Mr.  Dennis. 
That  this  ma)'  be  better  understood  at  a  glance  I  have 
marked  on  my  sketch,  by  a  broken  line,  the  bounds  of  the 
Downing  Farm,  which  included  the  "  Flint  Pasture." 

It  seems  that  about  two  hundred  and  seventy  years  ago 
Roger  Morey,  a  companion  and  it  is  thought  a  relative  or 
connection  of  Roger  Williams,  had  a  grant  of  forty  or  fifty 
acres,  which  was  located  to  the  west  or  southwest  of  a  large 
tract  granted  to  Robert  Cole  and  sold  to  Emanuel  Downing 
before  1638.  The  Roger  Morey  grant  was  on  both  sides  of 
what  is  now  L,owell  Street,  that  part  on  the  northerly  side 
being  the  same  nine  or  ten  acres  above  mentioned  as  after- 
wards known  by  the  name  of  the  Flint  Pasture. 

In  a  deposition  by  Nathaniel  Felton  Sept.  18,  1700,  he 
being  then  85  years  of  age,  he  says  :  "Soon  after  Roger 
Morrey  removed  from  Salem,  which  was  before  1644,  I,  this 
deponent,  heard  that  said  Morrey  had  sold  his  land  in  the 
woods  to  Emanuel  Downing  and  I  do  further  testify  [as  to?] 
a  parcel  of  swamp  or  upland^&  meadow  being  a  part  and 
belonging  to  ye  said  Morrey,  and  [it]  lyeth  at  the  westerly 
end  of  Mr.  Downing's  farm" — deponent  "has  lived  about 
55  years  a  near  neighbor  to  said  farm  and  never  heard  that 
said  Morrey's  land  was  claimed  by  anybody  but  the  tenants 
living  on  Mr.  Downing's  farm."  [Reg'y  of  Deeds,  Salem, 
B.  15,  Fol.  5.]  Fortunately  for  the  identification  of  this 
land,  a  most  remarkable  bound  often  referred  to  in  the  an- 
cient deeds  is  still  to  be  seen  marking  the  exact  northeast- 


13 

erly  corner  of  the  Morey  grant.  It  is  a  high  and  precipitous 
rock  about  twenty  rods  northerly  from  Lowell  street  just 
opposite  the  house  on  the  south  side  which  was  formerly 
the  house  of  Nathaniel  Flint,  and  a  few  rods  westerly  from 
the  easterly  way  leading  southerly  to  the  Wyman  Farm. 
It  forms  the  northeasterly  corner  bound  of  the  "Flint  Pas- 
ture," and  is  marked  on  my  sketch  "  Morey's  Bound,"  that 
being  the  name  given  to  it  in  the  numerous  ancient  deeds 
and  depositions. 

The  return  of  the  settlement  of  the  northwesterly  bounds 
of  the  Downing  Farm  in  1681,  recorded  in  Salem  town 
records,  gives  the  line  from  the  extreme  northwestern  cor- 
ner by  Putnam's  land  as  running  "strait  on  to  a  white  oak 
called  Morey's  Bound." 

In  a  controversy  which  seems  to  have  existed  in  1685 
and  in  1690  between  Anthony  Needham  and  the  owners  of 
land  adjoining  his,  presumably  the  owners  of  the  Downing 
Farm,  Nathaniel  Felton  testifies  that  "about  30  years 
since"  (that  is  about  1660)  "  Mr.  Thomas  Gardner  and 
Jeffry  Massey  (who  by  virtue  of  a  grant  of  200  acres  due 
unto  Mr.  Bacon*)  when  they  went  to  lay  out  the  said  200 
acres  I  this  deponent  went  with  them,  where  cominge  upon 
the  land  neere  adjoyning  to  the  farm  called  Mr.  Downings 
farme,  the  first  bound  they  made  of  the  said  two  hundred 
acres  was  upon  a  hill  being  as  I  conceive  about  20  rods  on 
the  north  side  of  the  highwayt  leading  up  to  Joseph  Pope's 
farme,  and  was  a  white  oak  sufficiently  marked,  ye  which 
white  oak  the  surveyors  affirmed  was  the  northeast  corner 
bounds  of  [Moreys]t  farm,  from  thence  they  went  upon  a 

*  There  are  depositions  recorded  in  Essex  Keg'y,  B.  11,  Fol.  186-9, 
by  which  it  appears  that  Rebecca,  wife  of  William  Bacon,  was  a 
daughter  of  Thomas  Potter,  Esq.,  and  that  her  brother,  Humphrey 
Potter,  was  the  father  of  Ann  Potter,  afterwards  the  wife  of  Anthony 
Needham. 

t  Now  Lowell  Street. 

t  In  the  record  it  is  Massey,  evidently  a  mistake,  as  shown  by  Marsh's 
deposition,  next  given. 


straight  line  westward  to  another  white  oak  which  was 
marked  also  upon  four  sides,  and  stood  neer  about  20  rods 
to  the  northward  of  ye  said  highway  which  the  said  sur- 
veyors affirmed  to  be  the  northwest  corner  bounds  of  the 
said  [Morey's]  farme,  and  it  also  was  the  northeast  corner 
bounds  of  John  Marsh  his  farme,  which  did  joyne  to  ye 
[Morey]  farme  ;  and  I  doe  further  testifie  that  John  Marsh 
shewed  me  the  said  white  oake  and  affirmed  it  to  be  the 
northeast  corner  bound  of  his  land  and  the  northwest  cor- 
ner bound  of  [Morey's]  land." 

In  1685  Zachariah  Marsh  testifies  that  "  about  25  years 
since  my  father  John  Marsh,  desirous  I  should  know  the 
bounds  of  his  farme  took  me  along  with  him,  and  he  then 
shewed  me  all  the  four  corner  bounds  belonging  to  his 
farme,  and  this  I  doe  testifie  that  he  shewed  me  a  white 
oake  sufficiently  marked  standing  about  20  rods  northward 
of  the  highway  leading  up  to  Joseph  Pope's  by  a  little 
swamp  the  which  oake  my  father  affirmed  was  the  north- 
east corner  bounds  of  his  farme,  and  that  it  was  also  the 
northwest  corner  bounds  of  Roger  More's  farme  ;  and  fur- 
ther I  doe  testifie  that  when  we  run  the  line  Anthony 
Needham  being  present  owned  the  said  white  oake  to  be 
the  corner  bounds  of  my  father's  farme,  and  this  is  the 
bounds  in  controversy  and  ye  same  that  Nath.  Felton 
attested  unto,  and  hath  ever  been  reputed  so  to  be,  no  man 
that  ever  I  know  having  questioned  it,  till  of  late  Anthony 
Needham."  This  deposition  was  again  sworn  to  in  1690. 
See  Reg'y  of  Deeds  at  Salem,  Book  8,  F.  181. 

This  controversy  was  probably  between  Anthony  Need- 
ham  and  John  Procter  as  tenant  of  the  Downing  Farm,  as 
appears  by  an  action  at  the  Salem  Court,  Nov.,  1685,  for 
damage  done  to  John  Procter  in  claiming  "  land  belonging 
to  the  plaintiff  as  being  in  possession  of,  and  hiring  the 
said  land  of  the  Worshipful  Symon  Bradstreet  Esq.,"  said 
land  being  part  of  a  farm  "  formerly  belonging  to  Mr. 


15 

Emanuel  Downing  " — Bradstreet  married  the  daughter  of 
Downing. 

The  bounds  described  in  these  depositions  are  those  of 
the  "  Flint  pasture"  and  have  remained  substantially  un- 
changed to  the  present  day,  as  is  evident  to  the  eye,  for,  in 
passing  along  Lowell  Street  one  can  see  plainly  the  old 
and  venerable  looking  stone  wall  beginning  at  "  Morey's 
Bound  "  on  the  top  of  the  high  rock  and  running  along  in 
a  westerly  direction  at  about  twenty  rods  distance  northerly 
from  the  street.  In  the  deed  of  the  Downing  Farm  to 
Thorndike  Procter  13  Sept.,  1700,  the  two  bounds  testified 
to  by  Felton  and  by  Marsh  are  mentioned  as  follows: — the 
line  of  the  Downing  Farm  running  from  the  northwest  cor- 
ner bound  "  southwestward  unto  a  white  oak  tree  standing 
on  the  Rocks,  and  from  thence  northwestward  unto  a 
swamp  white  oak  stump  standing  about  20  poles  on  the 
northerly  side  of  the  way  leading  to  Anthony  Needhams  " 
etc.  In  the  deed  by  Thorndike  Procter  to  his  brother 
Benjamin,  in  1701,  of  that  portion  of  the  Downing  Farm 
now  owned  by  Daniel  Brown,  the  Morey  bound  is  de- 
scribed as  "a  dead  white  oak  Bound  Tree  standing  on  the 
Rocks." 

The  portion  of  the  Downing  Farm  marked  on  my  sketch 
as  the  Flint  Pasture,  being  about  nine  or  ten  acres,  was 
conveyed  with  other  portions  by  Thorndike  Procter  to 
Samuel  Marble,  in  1701,  the  two  bounds  above  mentioned 
being  described  in  the  same  words.  Samuel  Marble  the 
next  year  conveyed  the  same  to  Samuel  Gardner.  Han- 
nah, the  wife  of  John  Higginson  3d,  mentioned  above  as 
conveyingthis  lotto  the  Southwicks  in  1708,  was  a  daughter 
of  Samuel  Gardner.  Daniel  Southwick,  Jr.,  conveyed  the 
same  to  Jonathan  Flint  in  1729  and  he  conveyed  it  to  John 
Jacobs  in  1738.  John  Jacobs  left  it  by  will  to  his  son 
Daniel,  who  conveyed  it  to  Zachariah  King  in  1775.  By 
him  it  was  divided  between  his  daughters  Desire  Procter 


16 

and  Mary  Upton,  in  1818,  and  its  history  is  thus  brought 
within  the  knowledge  of  those  now  living. 

West  of  this  Flint  Pasture  was  the  Procter  fifteen  acre 
lot,  the  description  of  which  in  the  deeds  and  depositions 
we  can  now  understand.  How  John  Procter  became  owner 
of  this  fifteen  acre  lot  does  not  appear  upon  record,  but  as 
John  Marsh  appears,  by  the  depositions  of  Nathaniel  Felton 
and  Zachariah  Marsh  given  above,  to  have  been  the  owner 
there  originally,  we  may  conjecture  that  the  title  came  from 
him  by  some  unrecorded  deed  or  otherwise. 

The  following  deed,  dated  5  Nov.,  1681,  and  recorded 
Book  6,  Fol.  48,  may  throw  some  light  on  this  question,  as 
it  apparently  conveys  the  eight  acre  lot  which,  as  above 
mentioned,  was  conveyed  by  Anthony  Needham  to  his  son- 
in-law  Thomas  Gould,  in  1705,  where  John  G.  Walcott, 
Jun.,  now  lives. 

Joseph  Procter  of  Ipswich  conveys  to  Anthony  Needham 
of  Salem  "  a  certain  tract  of  land  being  the  third  part  of 
twenty  three  acres  of  land  (formerly  the  land  of  John 
Herod)  lying  and  being  in  ye  towne  of  Salem  aforesaid, 
the  said  twenty  three  acres  of  land  being  bounded  on  ye 
northerly  side  with  ye  land  of  ye  said  Needham,  on  ye 
south  with  ye  highway,  on  ye  west  with  ye  land  of  ye  said 
Anthony  Needham,  and  on  ye  east  with  ye  land  now  in  ye 
occupation  of  John  Procter" 

Supposing  this  third  part  of  the  twenty-three  acres  to 
have  been  the  eight-acre  lot  referred  to  above,  being  the 
only  locality  that  would  agree  with  the  description,  the 
land  in  the  "  occupation  of  John  Procter"  on  the  east  side 
of  the  whole  "twenty  three  acres"  would  be  the  "Flint 
Pasture,"  part  of  the  Downing  Farm,  which  was  then,  in 
1681,  in  the  occupation  of  John  Procter,  as  tenant.  It  is 
therefore  quite  probable  that  the  "  fifteen  acre"  lot  which 
John  Procter  owned  was  the  other  two  thirds  part  of  the 
"  twenty  three  acres,"  and  that  he  became  possessed  of  it 


17 

in  the  same  way  that  his  brother,  Joseph  Procter,  became 
possessed  of  the  third  part,  perhaps  in  the  division  of  an 
estate.  What  the  estate  was  may  be  ascertained  by  future 
investigation. 

The  first  we  know  positively  of  the  lot  in  question  as 
being  John  Procter's  is  through  the  record  of  an  action 
which  he  brought  at  the  County  Court,  in  1685,  against 
Steven  Fish  for  nine  pounds  ten  shillings  due  for  rent. 
Procter  was  nonsuited.  Fish  at  the  same  time  sued  Procter 
for  non  delivery  of  land  hired  of  him  by  lease  March  ist, 
1681,  (1681-2).  The  jury  found  for  a  delivery  of  the  land 
according  to  the  lease. 

In  1689  John  Procter  "  for  my  love  and  parental  affection 
unto  my  beloved  wife  Elizabeth  Procter  and  all  her  chil- 
dren "  conveys  to  certain  trustees  for  their  benefit  "  all  my 
estate  for  their  supply  and  maintenance  and  make  over 
and  give  to  them  my  house  and  land  lying  in  Salem  bounds 
containing  fifteen  acres,  more  or  less,  bounded  with  ye  land 
of  Anthony  Needham  northwest  and  east  southerly*  and 
south  and  west  with  ye  common  road  or  highway  in  part 
and  partly  alsoe  with  land  of  John  Marsh  and  some  land 
of  Thomas  Gardner  Sen.  that  comes  within  the  highway." 
The  last  words  in  this  description  are  puzzling  and  perhaps 
indicate  that  the  road  at  the  westerly  end  of  the  lot  ran 
further  to  the  south  than  it  does  to-day. 

The  next  information  is  obtained  from  a  deposition  by 
Anthony  Needham,  Thomas  Gould  and  Isaac  Needham, 
in  1730,  taken  "in  perpetuam  rei  memoriam  "  and  recorded 
in  the  Registry,  Book  54,  Leaf  246,  as  follows  : — They  tes- 
tify that  "  they  very  well  knew  that  Mr.  John  Procter  late 
of  Salem,  deceased,  possessed  in  his  own  right  for  several 
years  before  and  untill  ninety  twot  a  certain  tract  of  land 

*  This  probably  refers  to  the  way  which  Needham  had  to  his  land 
over  the  western  end  of  the  lot  lying  next  east  of  the  Procter  lot. 

t  1692. 


i8 

situate  in  Salem  aforesaid  containing  about  15  acres,  butting 
easterly  on  land  now  in  ye  possession  of  Jonathan  Flint, 
southerly  and  southwesterly  on  the  highway  leading  to 
Joseph  Popes,*  northwesterly  and  northerly  on  land  of  the 
deponent  Thomas  Gould  and  northeasterly  on  land  of 
Thomas  Needham.  That  the  said  John  Procter  had  a 
house  upon  the  abovesaid  land  which  he  leased  to  one 
Stephen  Fisht  since  let  to  one  Lincoln  and  to  one  Bates, 
who  improved  it  under  and  in  right  of  the  said  John  Proc- 
ter. That  Benjamin  Procter  son  of  the  said  John  Procter 
possessed  and  improved  ye  above  described  parcel  of  land 
from  the  year  1692  untill  his  decease  which  happened  about 
fourteen  years  since.  That  Mary  the  widow  of  said  Ben- 
jamin Procter  and  her  son  John  Procter  have  possessed 
and  improved  the  same  right  from  the  time  of  his  decease 
untill  this  day."  The  deposition  is  dated  Jan.  7,  1730. 
The  name  of  "Bates  pasture"  applied  to  the  Philip  H. 
Saunders  place  in  the  deed  from  Marsh,  in  1863,  suggests 
the  thought  that  it  may  have  been  derived  from  the  Bates 
mentioned  in  the  deposition  as  one  of  the  tenants  of  the 
John  Procter  house. 

It  only  remains  to  trace  the  title  of  the  John  Procter  lot 
to  the  present  time.  It  appears  from  various  deeds  and 
other  records  that  the  title  descended  from  John  Procter  to 
his  son  Benjamin,  and  then  to  his  son  John,  the  grandson 
of  the  first  named  John  Procter.  From  him  it  passed  to 
his  son  Benjamin,  and  then  to  this  Benjamin's  sons,  James 
and  Francis  Procter.  Francis  gave  a  deed  of  it  to  James 
April  19,  1802.  Desire  Procter,  widow  and  administratrix 
of  James  Procter,  conveyed  it  to  Zachariah  King  Aug.  9, 
1811,  describing  it  as  "a  certain  piece  of  land  called  the 
upper  pasture  situate  in  said  Danvers  containing  sixteen 
acres,  be  the  same  more  or  less,  and  is  bounded  as  follows, 

*  Now  Lowell  Street. 

t  See,  above,  the  suit  against  Fish  for  rent. 


19 

viz. — southerly  on  the  highway,  northwesterly  and  north- 
erly on  land  of  John  Gardner,  Jr.,  northeasterly  on  land  of 
Kzekiel  Marsh,  and  southeasterly  on  land  of  the  said  Zach- 
ariah  King  to  the  bound  first  mentioned."  Zachariah 
King  conveyed  the  same  to  his  daughter,  Desire  Procter  of 
Danvers,  widow,  Feb.  18,  1818. 

From  Desire  Procter  the  title  descended  to  Rebecca  P. 
Osborne,  her  granddaughter,  and  others  who,  in  1889,  con- 
veyed the  lot  to  Harriet  A.  Walcott,  wife  of  John  G.  Wal- 
cott,  the  description  being  as  follows  : — "  a  parcel  of  land 
in  that  part  of  Peabody  called  West  Peabody,  containing 
about  seventeen  acres  and  two  fourths  and  formerly  called 
the  Upper  Pasture,  bounded  southwesterly  by  Lowell  Street 
about  ninety  two  rods  and  eleven  links,  northwesterly  by 
land  of  Walcott,  formerly  of  John  Gardner,  about  thirty 
eight  rods,  northeasterly  by  land  of  Walcott,  formerly  of 
Gardner,  and  by  land  of  Philip  Marsh,  formerly  of  Ezekiel 
Marsh,  about  seventy  six  rods  and  nineteen  links,  south- 
easterly by  other  land  of  the  grantors,  formerly  of  Zach- 
ariah King,  about  seventeen  rods  and  fourteen  links." 

John  G.  Walcott  and  Harriet  A.  Walcott,  wife,  conveyed 
the  same  to  Mary  E.  Collins,  wife  of  William  F.  M.  Collins, 
by  deed  dated  June  27,  1898. 


INDEX. 


Bacon,  Rebecca,  n 

"      William,     .  .  .  .n 

Bates, ,        .  .  .  .   -       16 

Bates  pasture,         .  .  .  5,  16 

Bradstreet,  Symon,  £  .  .  12,  13 

Brown,  Daniel,       .  .  .  .13 

Burial  in  shallow  graves,         .  .  7 

"       removal  of  bodies  for,       .  .        7 

Colcord  place  (now  Wyman),  .  4 

Cole,  Robert,         .  .  .  .10 

Collins,  Mary  £.,         ...  17 

"        William  F.  M.     .  .  .17 

Danvers,  Mrs.  H.  B.  Mansfield  of,   .  4 

"          land  in,    .  .  .  .16 

"          Desire  Procter  of,    .  .  17 

Dennis,  John  D.     .  .  .          6,  9,  10 

Downing,  Charles,       ...  8 

"  Emanuel,  .  .    3, 8,  10,  13 

"  George,  Sir,  .  .          3,  8 

Downing  Farm,  ...   3,  4,  7,  8,  10,  n,  12,  13,  14 

Felton,  Daniel  H.,  .  .          5,  6 

"       Nathaniel,  .  10,  n,  12,  14 

Felton's  Hill.     ....  5 

Fish,  Steven  or  Stephen,    .  .  15,  16 

Flint,  Jonathan,  .  .  .    - 13,  16 

"      Nathaniel,   .  .  .  .n 

Flint  pasture,    •  .          6,  9,  10,  n,  13,  14 

Gallows  Hill,  Salem,        .  .  .7 

Gardner,  Betsey,  ...  5 

"  .... Hannah  (married  Higginson),        13 

"        John,  .  .  .  .       6,  17 

"       John,  Jr.,  .  .  .17 

"        Samuel,          ...  13 

"       Thomas,  .  .  .6,  II,  15 

Gould,  George,  ....  6 

"       Thomas,       .  .  6,  14,  15,  16 

Herod,  John,      .        '.'  ,  .  .  14 

Higginson,  Hannah  (daughter   of   Samuel 

Gardner),  •  •       9,  13 

"  John,  3d.,        i  .  9,  13 


Ipswich,  land'in,  ownedjby  John  Procter,     8 

Jacobs, ,  Mrs.,  account  of  the  Procter 

tradition,          .  .  .         4, 6 

"       Daniel,      .  .  .  -13 

"       John 13 

Jacobs  house  and  farm  (now  Wf  man),  4,  5,  6 
King,  Zachariah,     .  .  9,  13,  16,  17 

Lincoln, ,    .  .  .  .  16 

Lowell  Street,  4,  5, 6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  n,  13,  16,  17 
Mansfield,  Hannah  B.,  account  of  the  Proc- 
ter tradition,         .  .  .          4, 5, 6 
Marble,  Samuel,           ...  13 
Marsh,  Ezekiel,      .            .           .             5,  17 
"        James,  account  of  the  Procter  tra- 
dition,       .           .            .           4, 5, 6 
"        James.'to  Philip  H.  Saunders,    5,  16 
"        John,         .           .            .5,  13,  14,  15 
"        Philip,             ...            17 
"        Zachariah,             .           .            12,  14 
Marsh  pasture,              .            .            .     4, 5, 6 
Massey,  Jeffrey,     .            .           .                  n 
Morey  (or  Morrey,  More),  Roger,     ro,  it,  12 
Morey's  Bound,      ...             n,  13 
Munroe,  ,  Mrs.  Jacobs  (Munroe)  men- 
tioned,           ....  4 
Needham,  Ann,  wife  of  Anthony  (formerly 

Potter),  .  .  .11 

"          Anthony, 'Sen.,    6,  9,  n,  12,  14,  15 

"          Anthony,  Jun.,       .  .  4 

"          Isaac,    .  .  .15 

"          Thomas,  16 

Needham  Homestead,        .  .          3»  4>  5 

Newburyport  Turnpike  (or  Newbury  Street)  5 

Nourse,  Rebecca,  monument  to,        .  7 

Osborn,  Elizabeth  C.,  Mrs.,  Librarian  of 

Peabody  Hist.  Soc.,       .  4 

Osborne,  Rebecca  P.,  .  .  •  17 

Peabody,      .  .         ...  7,  17 

Peabody  Historical  Society,    .  .         3i  4 

Pope,  Joseph,        .  .  .       n,  12,  16 


INDEX. 


Potter, 

PAGE 

Ann,      ....           II 

Procter  Tomb, 

PAGE 

8 
9 

Thomas,                                                 11 

Putnam,  ,  land  of, 

.           II 

Procter 

,  Benjamin,            .           .            13,  16 

Salem,          .           •  3.  7,  i°,  "» 

12,  14,  15,  16 

" 

Desire,             .            .           13,  16,  17 

Salem  Country  Club,  . 

8 

ti 

Elizabeth  imprisonment  of,        8,  15 

" 

Francis,     .            .            .            .16 

Salem  Village,  . 

3 

" 

James,              .            .            .            16 

Saunders,  Philip  H., 

4,  5,  6,  9,  16 

" 

John,  tenant  of  Downing  Farm, 

Southwick,  Daniel, 

9.  !3 

3,  12,  14 

"            Lawrence, 

•  9>  I3 

•< 

11    house  and  land  of,  in  Salem, 

Summit  Street,  in  Peabody,    . 

7 

3,4.  5.6.9.  10.  H.  15.  16 

Upham,  Charles  W., 

3 

" 

"    land  of,  in  Ipswich  and  Salem,  8 

Upton,  Mary,    . 

14 

» 

"     place  of  burial  of,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8 

Walcott,  Harriet  A., 

17 

« 

"     monument  in  memory  of,         7 

"        John  Gardner, 

-        6,17 

" 

"    imprisonment  of,          .             8 

"            "            "        Jun., 

6,  9,  14 

" 

"    Thorndike  Procter,  son  of,       8 

West  Peabody, 

•    3,  4.  17 

" 

"    Daniel  H.  Felton,  descendant 

White,  ,  house  of, 

6 

of,    .            .            .            .5 

Williams,  Roger, 

10 

" 

John,  grandson  of  John,       .            16 

Witchcraft  tragedy, 

3 

" 

Joseph,      ...            14,  15 

Wyman,  ,  house  and  farm  of 

,  (formerly 

" 

Mary,  widow  of  Benjamin,  .            16 

of  Jacobs),     . 

•  4.  5.  ii 

" 

Thorndike,  son  of  John,            .  8,  13 

